Sweden leads the way for ownership of mobile devices with an ownership rate of 150 per cent, representing no less than 14.6 million smartphones and tablets in use, according to a study published by Yahoo on mobile trends and key figures in Europe. The rate is 136 per cent in the Netherlands, 130 per cent in the UK and 81 per cent in France. In Poland it is 39 per cent and in Ukraine 34 per cent.

The trend across Europe is for bigger screens. Small smartphones (with a display of up to 3.5 inches) are in the process of becoming extinct, as they now account for less than 1 per cent of the total in most countries.

In contrast, phablets are a big attraction. Spain is the country in which they have had the most success, as they account for 37 per cent of mobile devices there. This is becoming a European phenomenon, as the rate is over 20 per cent in Germany, Italy, France and the UK.

The French are the biggest fans of large-sized tablets. Twelve percent of the mobile devices in French homes are large-sized tablets (bigger than 8.5 inches), compared with 11 per cent in the UK and 9 per cent in Germany.

This study also noted very strong growth in app sessions, an increase of 66 per cent in Spain and 63 per cent in France, for example. Unsurprisingly, Europeans are very keen on social networks. The British spend 41 per cent of their mobile time sending texts or connected to social networks, i.e., just slightly more than the French (40 per cent). Others are more interested in playing on their smartphone or tablet. Games are the number one activity for Italians (36 per cent), Germans (34 per cent) and Spanish (31 per cent).

To obtain these results, Yahoo's Flurry Analytics collected and analyzed data from over 725,000 apps installed on almost 564 million mobile devices in the 10 largest countries on the continent (France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Ukraine, Poland, Russia and Sweden), giving an indication of future market trends.